Will Pakistan continue its journey of success today against Namibia?

Pakistan will take on Namibia today in their fourth match in the T20 World Cup. The greenshirts had won their earlier three games against India, New Zealand and Afghanistan.

Will Pakistan continue its journey of success in the mega event today?

Is it really a World Cup if Pakistan have not lurched from crisis to catastrophe, and are not furiously mapping out probability trees, calculating net run rates, and praying that other teams help them sneak into the next round via the back door? Is it really a World Cup if Pakistan are not unpredictable, flawed and dispirited, and when rumours about infighting and leaks to the media aren’t flying around unfettered? Is it really a World Cup if Pakistan look this… good?

In this T20 World Cup, Pakistan is going smoothly as now they are not dependent on any other team’s performance to move to next round or the semi finals.

Pakistan have an opportunity today to rest one or two of the assets they want sharp for the semi-finals; Shaheen Afridi is perhaps the most compelling candidate. It might also be the time to test their bench strength, with Mohammad Nawaz and Haider Ali waiting in the wings should they be required.

Also Read:

IPL champ India completely collapsed in Dubai

Property business significantly declined after SC order to demolish Nasla Tower

But now that Pakistan seem to have unearthed the formula to win T20 games once more, it might not ultimately matter which individual players line up against Namibia. It’s about the team, not individual superstars. How often, indeed, do you say that about Pakistan?

Namibia, meanwhile, aren’t there to be anyone’s sidekick. Very much still in the tournament and in contention for the semi-finals, Gerhard Erasmus’ side have played an eye-catching brand of T20 cricket that has seen them come further this tournament than most would have expected.

They have a quality fast bowler in Ruben Trumpelmann, a slew of useful spinners, a solid-enough top order, and a superstar in David Wiese. Their successes haven’t been one-man shows; several of these players have stood up at various times to help them through the first round and then beat Scotland in the group. If they can catch Pakistan in a moment of complacency, they might just have the potential to put them under pressure, and in the past, Pakistan under pressure have found themselves doing some funny things.

Everyone’s eyes, though, will be firmly on Pakistan, suddenly among the mid-tournament favourites. Namibia, though, have a shot, and for now, that is all they can ask for.